A Different Blend
by arethusa85
Summary: Post ‘Christmas Invasion’ fluff with babbling, a ridiculous amount of oranges, and tea of course.


**Character/Pairing:** Ten/Rose  
**Rating:**PG-13  
**Disclaimer:** The BBC owns all, I am merely borrowing.  
**Spoilers:** Through 'Christmas Invasion'.  
**Summary:** Post 'Christmas Invasion' fluff with babbling, a ridiculous amount of oranges, and tea of course.

As the flurries of not-snow dissipated so too did those who came to watch and frolic. Soon only Rose and the Doctor remained, both silent and lost in their own thoughts. Jackie was the last to head back inside and only after considerable coaxing from Mickey. She might have warmed to this Doctor, he liked her tea after all, but she couldn't miss her daughter's cautious gestures around the new man. Jackie wasn't entirely sure Rose wanted to be alone with him just yet. But as they'd enjoyed the brisk evening, Rose had taken his new hand and smiled, a concession that surely meant things were on the mend. Besides, Jackie considered, there was that christmas special on she'd be loathe to miss.

Rose shivered as the chill of evening finally seeped through her heavy jacket and she started to lean closer to the Doctor before catching herself and awkwardly withdrawing. She might believe him now, he'd certainly proven he was the Doctor, but that didn't make him any less of a stranger. She'd warmed to his cheerful demeanor over turkey and pulling crackers, but seeing him so comfortable in a domestic setting had been unsettling. She felt a slight tug on her hand as he shifted and shuffled his feet. Still restless, she thought, smiling a little.

He cleared his throat and gave her a sidelong glance. "Fancy a cuppa?"

"Haven't you had enough tea today?"

"Nah. Can never have too many free radicals." He leaned close, adding, "Just you and me."

Rose hadn't really been alone with him since he'd crash landed the TARDIS and she still felt a little apprehensive about doing so. He might be the Doctor, but she had yet to determine whether he really was still her Doctor. Better to find out sooner than later, she decided. "All right."

"Good." He released her hand with noticeable reluctance and began rummaging through pockets for his key. "I know I put it somewhere..."

As his endeavor became more frantic, Rose pulled out her copy and opened the door.

"Thanks." The Doctor smiled sheepishly. "Need to get used to all these pockets. I have at least four...no! Five pockets." He inspected the last pocket in delight. "Although that last one is a new discovery. Not bigger on the inside. Have to do something about that...

Stepping inside the TARDIS, he shrugged out of his coat, flicking one arm to free it from a stubborn sleeve, and tossed it over a convenient railing. Rose followed him cautiously, cataloguing traits that remained unchanged. So far her list was short. Very short. If the Doctor noticed her unusual timidness, he kept it to himself, leading the way into the depths of his ship and trusting her to follow.

"Your plimsolls squeak." Rose ducked her head, watching him from beneath lowered lids, unsure how he would respond to teasing. "A lot."

"They're new!" he protested and then grinned, flashing her the wide smile which she had to admit was quite...nice. "Nothing a little running won't solve, eh?"

He grabbed her hand with his considerably larger one and dragged them down the corridor at a breakneck pace. Suddenly, he stopped short and Rose collided with his back, losing her breath in a puff of air.

"Sorry. Rooms may have moved. A bit."

"More than usual?" she asked, immediately separating herself from the curve of his back. That sort of bodily contact was absolutely out of the question until he proved himself less of a stranger. She was still coming to terms with the fact that holding his hand felt more familiar than it should. Especially that really _really_ new hand.

"Possibly." His wide brown eyes studied the length of the hallway. "Sometimes the TARDIS fancies a remodel."

Unzipping her jacket, Rose looked over the hallway. It was hard to tell which rooms might be out of place as the TARDIS often moved them based on the needs of her occupants. Except...that was her bedroom door. "My room has moved."

The Doctor remained focused on the task of locating the errant kitchen and barely acknowledged her comment with a nod.

With careful emphasis, Rose added, "So has yours."

"Oh, there it is!" the Doctor exclaimed, taking hold of her hand once more.

"What?"

"The kitchen." With a half smile that seemed to imply she was being an entirely silly ape, he urged her down the hallway. "Come on!"

Apparently the Doctor had convened with the TARDIS, as they took two sharp turns and there was the kitchen door.

"Thought you might like a chance to talk," he explained, leading her into the brightly lit room. "I can see those synapses of yours firing away. All those questions bubbling to the surface."

She nodded and slipped out of her jacket, settling it on the back of a chair. He was right, she had plenty of questions. But whether she was prepared to ask him yet was another matter. With the ease of practice, she readied the kettle as he dug through a cabinet for tea bags. She paused when she saw him place her favorite on the counter.

"What?" he asked, noticing her apparent distraction.

"Nothing. It's just..." She bit her lip as she continued to stare at the tea bag. "You remember what kind of tea I like."

"Course I do," he scoffed. "Companion's favorite tea; very important. Now, my personal preference for tea...that's a problem."

How could he remember her favorite but not his own? "That one with a bit of ginger. And milk."

"Not anymore," he murmured. "Hmm..." He squinted, reached inside his jacket for his glasses and began a focused survey of the tea selection in the cupboard. Shuffling through packages, he gave careful consideration to several fruitier blends before settling on Earl Grey.

She couldn't help watching him. Taking in his new gestures, adapting to his lankier frame, and the new glasses were...distracting to say the least. The kettle whistled and she jumped. Pouring the water, she set the kettle back on the stove as he added the tea bags.

"I know you're finding this difficult, Rose." He dropped one sugar in, stirred and took a tentative sip. Frowning, he added another sugar. And another. Satisfied at last, he hummed appreciatively. "The big things. The important things. They haven't changed. I still like chips, although with less vinegar I think. I'm _definitely_ still terrified of your mother."

"Those are the big important things?"

"Perhaps not," he admitted.

"You came to Christmas dinner," Rose pointed out. "He wouldn't have."

He nodded and gave her a small smile. "Still me, Rose. You didn't mind, did you?"

"It was nice." She paused, emphasizing, "_Domestic._"

The Doctor raised his eyebrows, but instead of a retort turned away to rummage through another cabinet. "Chocolate. Lovely." Munching happily, he offered her the package of chocolate digestives and she took one.

"I don't remember buying these."

He shrugged. "TARDIS must be feeling generous."

She studied the biscuit, turning it over slowly between her fingers. "Has it happened before?"

"Randomly appearing food stuffs? What about that proliferation of oranges? Kept appearing in the most unlikely places. Big piles of 'em. Probably a few still lurking somewhere. Never really got around to checking the lower storage areas." He shivered. "Apparently, one of us was significantly lacking in vitamin C. Or...the TARDIS confused the color and the fruit, which isn't likely since she doesn't communicate in English. Although, she could've picked up the habit from me." He was pensive for a moment, before exclaiming, "We should of held a raffle! Lifetime supply of oranges, yeah? No one would pass up a fruity opportunity like that." He snickered at his clever rhyme. "Except me, of course. Not a big fan of oranges."

"You were livid that it wasn't bananas," Rose teased and then caught herself. "I mean, no. No. I meant...I meant this..." She gestured at his new form.

"Ah." He leaned back against the counter, crossing his ankles in a habitual motion Rose found very reassuring. "I'm the tenth."

"Tenth?"

"Ye_p_."

"You've done this ten times?"

"Nine times. Nine times, tenth body. I get thirteen tries. Regenerations. That's what it's called. _Re_generating."

"Oh." She studied the handle of her mug, absently rubbing her thumb across the glazed surface. After a moment of contemplation, she looked up to find him watching her with a familiar intensity beneath his new fringe of hair. She took a deep breath. "I didn't give up on you."

"No?" He tilted his head. "Not what it sounded like."

"It was just a bit of a shock. You...I mean, he said somethin' about dogs with no noses and...burst into flames."

"Did I?" He looked surprised. "That wasn't very helpful of me. Probably the best I could've done at that point. I was barely coherent. Dying, you know. Kept thinking what would have happened if I hadn't..." he trailed off and looked away to study the hinge on a cabinet. "Explanations in general weren't really my forte though were they?

"Is that different now?"

"I dunno. This body appears to be prone to babbling. First thing I noticed. Well, second after the teeth. No wait...maybe fifth? Sixth? Seventh? Eighteenth?" He raised a hand to rub the back of his neck. "Honestly, it's a little embarrassing. I can't seem to stop."

Rose attempted to hide a smile behind the mug of tea.

"Rose, it's all right. I'm not mad at you," the Doctor assured her. "I should have explained. So you'd know what to expect. But I didn't think it would happen so soon. While you were traveling with me at all in fact. And you weren't useless you know."

"But I couldn't even..."

"I wouldn't recommend pursuing a career as a nurse or anything and, well, your lack of faith in me didn't particularly help my self-esteem, but you did take charge and..." He halted mid-sentence, clamping his mouth shut. He took a deep breath. "Sorry. That was rude again, wasn't it? Blimey."

"S'all right," Rose said, trying to keep her expression as blank as possible, but pretty sure the tears she'd been keeping at bay all day were finally going to be unstoppable. He might have been rude, but what he'd said was the truth. She'd failed him. She heard a clink as the Doctor set his mug aside on the counter and then she felt a cool hand on her chin, guiding her gaze away from the tea and up to him.

"Hey," he said softly. "I don't think I want to open up to the whole universe, but you, Rose Tyler, deserve explanations at least. C'mon. Ask me. Anything you like."

She'd expected him to clam up, give a gruff excuse and certainly disappear to fix something. This...this was new.

"You look different an' you like different things. And you speak differently, obviously. So lots of things have changed. But you're still you, yeah? Some stuff must be the same. I mean, what about feelings?"

He let go of her chin and leaned back against the counter. "Do you remember what happened? Before I...changed."

"Um...singin'. And this light, right?"

"Yes, there certainly was a lot of that. You, crazy human that you are, flew the TARDIS." The Doctor's tone was admonishing, but he looked immensely pleased.

"I remember that bit. I mean, I hadta tear open the console to do it. And...wait, the TARDIS is all right, isn't she?"

"She's fine. Wellll...mostly. There are some repairs to be done. Have to put off any travel for a few days. And I think I might need one of those...um...oh, what do you call that thing you press fruit into?"

"Um...a juicer?"

"That's it!" He gave her the biggest grin yet. "Rose Tyler. You saved my life. _And_ the universe. Not bad for someone who's useless."

"But...how?"

"You looked into the vortex, harnessed the energy at the heart of the TARDIS and you came back. For me. You were very possessive. _My Doctor_, you said." Not wanting to continue on that tangent, he quickly added, "_And_ you stopped the Daleks."

"Oh." Her brow crinkled in confusion. "You died anyway."

"Yes. But I was able to regenerate. If a Dalek had..." he shook his head. "I can't come back from that."

"If it wasn't a Dalek, then what killed you?"

There was a moment of silence in which the Doctor ran his tongue over his teeth and appeared to be weighing his options. Rose bit her lip and wondered if maybe she'd stumbled upon the limits of his new talkativeness. She certainly wasn't going to force answers out of him, no matter how greatly she wanted to know what really happened.

"Doctor, about where we're go--"

"You were dying," he interrupted, eyes focused on the ceiling. "From holding all that energy. I took it from you. Well...I kissed you, actually. Not the only way, but it seemed appropriate at the time. Last chances and all that." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "For that body, anyway. And I really _really_ hope you're not going to slap me or run off or anything of that nature because..."

He continued rambling, worry increasing with each spoken word, but the shock of his confession had rendered Rose partially deaf. After all that had happened, the golden light, almost dying, losing him, and this, not remembering one little kiss, felt the most unfair. But what did it mean, really? What kind of kiss had it been? They'd flirted and teased each other but he couldn't possibly...could he? She noticed he was blushing now, the faintest hint of pink across his cheeks, which meant that he was not immune to the implications of what he'd done.

"I meant it," Rose said finally, interrupting the Doctor's babbling.

His gaze switched back to her as his brow furrowed. "Sorry?"

"The _my Doctor_ bit. I meant it."

"Oh."

It was the Doctor's turn to be shocked, but Rose could see the hope flickering beneath his slackened features.

"Still?" he asked so quietly she almost missed it.

"Yeah."

"Right." He nodded to himself, shaking off his surprise. "To summarize, you saved me and then I returned the favor. So we're square. Paid up. Even steven." He yawned. "Sorry. Still a bit winded."

"That's what you get for fightin' aliens in your pajamas."

"Well, I have you to blame for that I'd imagine. The pajamas that is."

Rose was considerably pinker than yellow, before she managed to stammer, "I should...um...go. Before Mum thinks I left without sayin' goodbye."

"Very sensible of you," the Doctor praised. "Wouldn't want Jackie storming in here looking for you. Not that she could get inside, but better to be safe. I'll see you in the morning, yeah?"

"Yeah," Rose agreed, placing her empty mug in the sink. On impulse, she turned back to face him and rose on her tip-toes to brush a chaste kiss against his cheek. She heard his breath catch as she withdrew.

"That...that's new," he observed, resting his weight against the counter as he silently thanked his overly sensitive new skin. "Although customary among some cultures...we've never..."

"Mmmm," Rose agreed, smiling shyly as she retrieved her jacket and headed for the door. "'Night Doctor."

"Good night, Rose," he replied softly, watching her until she disappeared from view.


End file.
